That makes me doubly glad to have met you. Good-bye, my
dear boy, good-bye. Come, Julius."

Julius as he slunk off at his master's heels, and heard the smothered
oath which escaped Mr Halgrove's lips as soon as he found himself
alone, looked round wistfully and pitifully, and wished he were allowed
to go where he pleased.

Jeffreys walked on like a man in a dream. For six months he had been
working out what had been to him a penance, hoping to live down his bad
name, even if he could never win a good.

But now in a moment it seemed as if the labour of those patient months
had been dashed to the ground, and his guardian's bitter words branded
themselves on his heart as he paced on out of the shadow of the noble
minster into the dusk of the city.

Trimble, nearly bursting with excitement--for he had overheard all the
latter part of the conversation--crept after him. What a time he was
having!

Jeffreys bent his steps almost aimlessly out of the city into the
country beyond. It was only half-past seven, and Teddy and Freddy were
expecting him. He had not the heart to fail them, though he would
gladly have remained solitary that evening. The Roshers lived in a
small cottage some distance down the lane in which six months ago
Jeffreys had first encountered the sunshine of their presence. How long
ago it seemed now! Ah! that was the very bank on which he sat; and
there beyond was the railway embankment at which the navvies were
working, now finished and with the grass growing up its sides.

Trimble's little heart jumped to his mouth as he saw the man he was
following stop abruptly and begin to climb the bank. He was too close
behind to be able to turn back. All he could do was to crouch down in
the ditch and "lie low." He heard Jeffreys as he gained the top of the
bank sigh wearily; then he seemed to be moving as if in search of a
particular spot; and then the lurker's hair stood on end as he heard the
words, hoarsely spoken,--

"It was this very place."

What a day Jonah was having! After a quarter of an hour's pause, during
which the patient Jonah got nearly soaked to the skin in his watery
hiding-place, Jeffreys roused himself and descended into the lane. Any
one less abstracted could not have failed to detect the scared face of
the spy shining out like a white rag from the hedge. But Jeffreys
heeded nothing and strode on to Ash Cottage.

Long before he got there, Freddy and Teddy, who had been